Decision makers

Tell Facebook to fix their policy of who controls your Facebook when you die

My name is Rosemary Heath. On May 10, 2016, my husband George was killed in the Taunton, MA mall rampage. He was eating at a mall restaurant and was stabbed to death trying to protect a pregnant waitress.

In my time of mourning, I often turned to his Facebook page to remember the funny, loving man that he was. I wasn’t the only one, and I knew I would want to use his page to continue to celebrate his life. But because George and I were not familiar with Facebook’s legacy option before he died, I am now grieving for my husband and fighting Facebook to grant me access to his account.

Facebook’s legacy option allows users to name a person who has access to your Facebook page after you pass. But what happens if nobody is named? The account becomes locked, even for the spouse/partner. This is what happened to me. I had every intention to keep his memory alive through his Facebook page, sharing memories and pictures with his friends and family.

Facebook will not allow me access to my own husband’s page. This is wrong. He was my husband and I'm legally his next of kin. Unless there is a change, what happened to me could happen to you. Shouldn’t the person you committed to for life have control over your page if you were to die?

In cases where a legacy person isn’t named and a spouse/partner is listed in the profile, Facebook should allow for them to be the default legacy person and notify them if someone is attempting to memorialize the account. This change in policy would provide me access to my husband’s account and prevent situations like this from arising in the future.

Don't let what happened to me happen to you! Let Facebook know they need to default to the listed spouse/partner when a user fails to name a legacy for their account.

My name is Rosemary Heath. On May 10, 2016, my husband George was killed in the Taunton, MA mall rampage. He was eating at a mall restaurant and was stabbed to death trying to protect a pregnant waitress.

In my time of mourning, I often turned to his Facebook page to remember the funny, loving man that he was. I wasn’t the only one, and I knew I would want to use his page to continue to celebrate his life. But because George and I were not familiar with Facebook’s legacy option before he died, I am now grieving for my husband and fighting Facebook to grant me access to his account.Facebook’s legacy option allows users to name a person who has access to your Facebook page after you pass. But what happens if nobody is named? The account becomes locked, even for the spouse/partner. This is what happened to me. I had every intention to keep his memory alive through his Facebook page, sharing memories and pictures with his friends and family. Facebook will not allow me access to my own husband’s page. This is wrong. He was my husband and I'm legally his next of kin. Unless there is a change, what happened to me could happen to you. Shouldn’t the person you committed to for life have control over your page if you were to die?In cases where a legacy person isn’t named and a spouse/partner is listed in the profile, Facebook should allow for them to be the default legacy person and notify them if someone is attempting to memorialize the account. This change in policy would provide me access to my husband’s account and prevent situations like this from arising in the future. Don't let what happened to me happen to you! Let Facebook know they need to default to the listed spouse/partner when a user fails to name a legacy for their account.